A special thank you to Lynne M. Barrelle, Grove Foote, Jack Sanders, John Sturges, John Robie and many others from around the World that have forwarded these images to me. A complete history of the Gilbert & Bennett Manufacturing Co. in pictures is a wonderful addition to the site.

Note dial-up users: should the images take too long to load and some pictures come up with an "X" hit refresh in the your browser. I'm breaking up these pictures to keep downloads to a minimum- 181 years of history is a bit too much for one page.

Have pictures you'd like to include? Email them to bcolley@snet.net or call me at 860-364-7475, I can scan the images if you'd like and get them right back to you in less than a week.

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The decisions that were made in rebuilding the properties insured Gilbert and Bennett's success for generations to come. One of those decisions was to lobby the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad to run a line into the mill.

The Danbury and Norwalk Railroad traveled through Georgetown as early as 1852, but it was during the 1874 reconstruction that the railroad was convinced to run a spur line into the mill property. The track that came into the mill, branched off from the railway just before the Georgetown Train Station where Miller Hall stood, two team tracks split to the left, one lead to the back of Georgetown Station and the other extended further to the road.

The main track split in two, where it joining again in the factory. In addition to Miller's Hall, two small sheds also stood, one of which was a coal shed. The spur lines enabled the company to ship and receive material more efficiently, and reduce the manpower required in the process.

In 1875 a corporate office was constructed on the upper factory property. The corporate headquarters building was a novelty in construction- the framework inside and out is stapled wire cloth (called wire lathing) in place of the usual wood lathing and sheathing. On the outside is laid cement made to imitate stone and on the inside is the usual plaster. They noted- "this style of construction is not only a novelty but a perfect success" in their "Wire Wonders" publication of 1893.

An interesting side note to this building location is that when the Gilbert & Bennett Co bought of Timothy Wakeman his sawmill, with the mill rights and land in 1848, they also bought the old Baptist church, remodeling it into a dwelling. In 1875, the old church was torn down to make room for new buildings. Historian Wilbur F. Thompson assisted in the remodeling. Thompson notes that: some of the timbers were found to be shattered by the explosion of 1838.

In the old Baptist church record we find the following statements regarding the explosion: "Nov. 26, 1838, the Rev. Nathaniel Colver lectured in our meeting house on slavery (against it), and was disturbed by unruly persons: Nov. 27, 1836, another lecture, disturbed as before; Nov. 28, 1838, our meeting house blown up but not entirely destroyed. The Old Gilbert & Bennett Mfg. Co. office stood on the site of the old church, and great factory buildings cover the old church lot.

At this time what we know today as North Main Street did not run around the factory, it came straight through it. The Old Corporate Headquarters we just viewed in the above pictures is top center in this drawing.

On May 10, 1889 the Old Red Mill was destroyed by fire and a new mill was built in its place. The Red Mill was being used strictly for the drawing of fine wire, tinning and galvanizing wire in its later years.

Gilbert & Bennett celebrated its first 75 years at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, in which the company was an exhibitor. The company supplied 3 miles of woven fencing, which enclosed the fair's railroad platforms, and about 8 acres of netting (shown above), which hung under the fair buildings' glass ceiling to prevent shattered glass from falling on people. At this World Fair the company exhibited: Gold, Silver, Aluminum, Brass, Copper, Galvanized and "Pearl Wire Cloth, Galvanized Netting, Wire Fencing, Gates, Ornamental Wire Work, G&B's system of Fireproofing, Stable fixtures, Screens, Home Furnishing Wire Goods, and a sample of the 1st netting made by power machinery and exposed to the open air for 25 years.

Dam of the upper factory pond. 300 were employed by G&B- 175 at the Georgetown mills (representing 20% of the wire industry workers in Connecticut), 75 at the Chicago factory and the remainder belonging to the selling and clerical force in 1893. By 1906, the company had grown to employ 600 workers.

Sawtooth Factory about 1900. We know this is an early picture as there are no banners on the building.

View of the Sawtooth factory with the banners. This picture was taken from about where the old G&B post office is today on North Main Street. In this picture we see a new road way coming around the factory building as it does today. The road through the factory was still in use as we can see the bridge on the left.

View of Portland Avenue sometime between 1900 and 1906. This picture shows only one house on Portland Avenue that was likely a tenement house for workers. The rest of Portland Avenue was not developed until the 1920's.

View of the New Corporate Headquarters Building- completed in 1906 . In 1906, Edwin Gilbert, son of the founder, died at his vacation home in Crescent City, Florida on February 28th. As a salesman, director, treasurer, and president of the company, he served the company for 62 years. His estate was valued at over one-half million dollars, half of which he left to the community.

In the next section we will showcase the "Miller Era" 1906-1954.

John Moore Collection; Tryde Photo's ; Redding Times Photo's ; Tour Present Day Georgetown ; Brent Colley Collection

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